Tuesday, May 27, 2003

A DIFFERENT SPIN ON NEOCONSERVATIVES:
THEY'RE RADICALS...PHONY CONSERVATIVES..
ARE CONSERVATIVE AMERICANS BEING SUCKED IN?

"Clear Thinking" Counterfeit Conservatives"

"Those who hail and embrace the term neoconservatism, and adopt their dishonesty, are Counterfeit Conservatives."

"...Contrast the collectivism of the neoconservatism with the insights of the Six Canons of Conservative Thought from Russell Kirk....
Then review The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk and the following "Ten Conservative Principles (1993)" ....
Can any honest and truthful traditionalist espouse the policies that neoconservatives maintain and promote, and still retain a valid claim for calling themselves a Conservative? Only the prevaricator of deceit, as defined by Merriam Webster - a former liberal espousing political conservatism - would insist on a perpetual hoax that insults one’s intelligence...."

Understand clearly and unequivocally, neoconservatism is the tormentor of Western Civilization. NeoCons are the enemy, and seek a barbarism equal to the most hardened FDR New Deal "collectivist". Individual Liberty is unpalatable to the counterfeit conservative...."

"...Bill O’Reilly is just a symbol of the symptom.....Mr O’Reilly . . . doesn’t have a clue, nor do the rest of the NeoCons..."

" When Rupert Murdoch testifies before congress to secure News Corp’s latest acquisition - Direct TV - don’t be duped into thinking you will be availed with conservative content. If you think the Weekly Standard or the National Review is conservative, you are sipping that tainted drink and swallowing a fake line. Where are the Kirk Canons and Conservative Principles in any of the NeoCons positions? Limited government, Bill of Right protections, a Republic governance - are all absent from the neoconservatives. Comprehending the nature of the hoax requires an understanding of real conservatism. Surely, those ‘Clear Thinking Americans’ will follow their cue and parrot from the TelePrompTer. Will you be one of them?"

"The lawyers call the attacks by the United States and British forces against Iraq "crimes against humanity and war crimes".
They have listed a number of international treaties they say the two countries have violated.
These include the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Convention and the International Criminal Court's statute...."

There was a lot not to like about the new Congressional district lines Republicans tried to push through in Texas this month, the ones that made Democratic legislators flee to Oklahoma to prevent a vote. Democratic Austin was sliced into four parts and parceled out to nearby Republican districts. A community on the Mexican border and one 300 miles away were painstakingly joined together and declared to be a single Congressional district. But the real problem was that Republicans were redrawing lines that had just been adopted in 2001, defying the rule that redistricting occurs only once a decade, after the census.

The Texas power grab is part of a trend. Republicans, who now control all three branches of the federal government, are not just pushing through their political agenda. They are increasingly ignoring the rules of government to do it. While the Texas redistricting effort failed, Republicans succeeded in enacting an equally partisan redistricting plan in Colorado. And Republicans in the Senate — notably those involved in the highly charged issue of judicial confirmations — have been just as quick to throw out the rulebook.

These partisan attacks on the rules of government may be more harmful, and more destabilizing, than bad policies, like the $320 billion tax cut. Modern states, the German sociologist Max Weber wrote, derive their legitimacy from "rational authority," a system in which rules apply in equal and predictable ways, and even those who lead are reined in by limits on their power. When the rules of government are stripped away, people can begin to regard their government as illegitimate.

The Texas redistricting effort was part of a national Republican effort to shore up the party's 229-to-205 House majority going into the 2004 elections. The House majority leader, Tom DeLay, who traveled to Austin to supervise the effort personally, was blunt about his motives: "I'm the majority leader, and I want more seats." Texas Republicans seized control of the Legislature last year, and they thought they could add five or more Republican Congressional seats. When the Democrats took off for Oklahoma, the Department of Homeland Security helped hunt down a plane filled with escaping legislators. Sixteen members of Congress from Texas wrote to Attorney General John Ashcroft asking him whether there had been "attempts to divert federal law enforcement resources for private political gain."

In Colorado, Republicans succeeded this month in redrawing the state's Congressional lines, which had been duly redrawn after the 2000 census. Republican state legislators, under the guidance of the presidential adviser Karl Rove, added thousands of Republicans to a district that Bob Beauprez, a Republican, won last year by just 121 votes, and excluded the Democrat who nearly beat him from the district. Democrats have gone to court, charging that Republicans violated Colorado's Open Meetings Law and legislative rules when they sneaked the plan through.

In the judicial battles in the Senate, Republican leaders, frustrated that Democrats have rejected a handful of Bush nominees, have declared war on longstanding Senate rules. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has dispensed with procedures that allow senators to exercise their constitutional "advice and consent" function, in one case holding a single hearing for three controversial nominees, and he has stifled legitimate inquiry. When Senator Charles Schumer tried to ask one nominee about his legal beliefs, Senator Hatch snapped that he was asking "stupid questions."

The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, has declared that filibusters, which allow senators to block action with just 41 votes, should not be used to reject judicial nominations, despite a history of using them to do just that. Abe Fortas was prevented from becoming chief justice in 1968 by a Republican-backed filibuster. While Senator Frist pushes "filibuster reform," Senate Republicans are also talking about a "nuclear option," in which Vice President Dick Cheney would preside over the Senate and hand down a ruling that Rule 22, which permits filibusters, does not apply to judicial nominations.

The Republicans' attack on the rules come at a time when they could easily afford to take a higher road. They have, by virtue of their control of the White House and Congress, extraordinary power to enact laws and shape the national agenda. And this administration is already getting far more of its judges confirmed, and more quickly, than the Clinton administration did.

Weber, in writing about rules, was concerned about what factors kept governments in power. That is not a concern in the United States — there is no uprising in the offing. But when Americans see their government flouting the rules, as they did during Watergate, they respond with cynicism.

In these hard times — with threats from abroad and a sour economy at home — our leaders should be bringing the nation together not by demonizing foreign countries, but by instilling greater faith in our own. They should be showing greater reverence for the rules of government, and looking for other ways — like tougher campaign finance laws — to assure Americans that their government operates evenhandedly.

How likely is that? The word in Texas is that Republicans may try their redistricting plan again. Senate Democrats are bracing for Senator Frist's "filibuster reform," or the "nuclear option."

And Mr. DeLay recently revealed how he felt about rules of general applicability. When he tried smoking a cigar in a restaurant on federal property, the manager told him it violated federal law. His response, according to The Washington Post, was, "I am the federal government."

"....balancing the books without tax increases will require deep cuts where the money is: that is, in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security."

"The Financial Times suggests this is deliberate (and I agree)......"

".... the people now running America aren't conservatives: they're radicals who want to do away with the social and economic system we have, and the fiscal crisis they are concocting may give them the excuse they need. The Financial Times, it seems, now understands what's going on, but when will the public wake up?"

"Mr Chirac made his move on January 22, the day of the Elysée treaty celebrations. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Schröder he declared: "War is always an admission of defeat ... the worst of solutions. Hence everything must be done to avoid it." He implied it was a common European policy, although it was not.

It was a fateful day. In Brussels, France, Germany and Belgium blocked a US-led initiative to give Nato support to Turkey in the event of Iraqi retaliation.

The next day in Washington, Donald Rumsfeld, the blunt-spoken US defence secretary, dismissed the fears of "old" Europe. "The centre of gravity is moving east," he said. The stage was set for Europe to split, with a helping hand from the US."

Jude Says..

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About Me

Iddybud is a descendant of American patriots, membership to DAR pending, a descendant of a family member who lost another dubious American Presidential election in 1876, so you might understand why she took Selection 2000 to heart.

desiderata - by max ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann c.1920